And Like Any 10 Year Old Kid
by Melanie Rose
Summary: Jacob used to have a brother. He was only 10 years old. His name was Will but everyone called him Ryan anyway because he had always seemed to prefer it. But one day, Ryan stopped breathing. Simon finds out the true horrors of becoming a vampire. One-shot.


A/N; Yes, I am aware this a bit strange, introducing a new character in a one-shot but I wrote this before Figments, intending it to be a story, but then I came up with the idea of figments and decided againist it.

btw, this takes place during the celebration party at the end of COG.

Disclaimer, all the characters do not belong to me, except Chelsea. the plot also belongs to me.

* * *

Even though the sky was almost pitch black Simon could just about see the smoky trails left by the fireworks that once soared through the sky; erupting splashes of colour across the darkness. It reminded Simon of the days when Jocelyn used to attach a white cotton sheet to one of the walls of her apartment and let Clary and Simon unwind all their troubles through throwing paint at the sheet. In the end, no white would be left showing, just as the fireworks had left no black showing.

He smiled briefly at the memory. A band was now preparing onstage, the florescent banner behind them said they were called Oceans Awake, it was far better than any of his band's names. They were rather odd for a band; there was a petite girl about his age with golden-blonde hair setting up the microphone- an acoustic guitar strapped to her back, a dark-haired fey boy who was turned away from him, fiddling with an amp and a dark-eyed vampire he recognised as Jacob.

"SIMON."

He snapped out of his daze and whirled round to face Maia, who obviously looked pissed off. "Did you hear _anything_ of what I just said?!" She didn't wait for him to reply. "You better not have been checking out that shadowhunter band chick."

Simon tried to not let the shock flood to his face, he didn't realise he had been _staring_ at her. He looked up to just about catch the girl's gaze, they had begun to play a song, and Simon caught her eye and immediately looked away, colour running to his face. They were playing _Six Feet under the Stars,_ one of his favourite songs.

"COME ON Simon let's dance."Maia said, not waiting for a reply, she dragged him on to the dance floor. Isabelle was staring at them, well, more like glaring at them; jealously flared in her cheeks. He couldn't help but flinch away, a flinching vampire? Was that even possible?

The song faded into a softer, quieter one. Maia pulled him closer; he felt his arms form a ring around her shoulders. A twinge of guilt hit Simon like a slap around the face, he was dancing with Maia, yet he couldn't take his eyes off the singer. She was now twirling around the stage, her vintage blue dress flowing with her; he could now see thin white lines caressing her skin, not like flaws but like beauty. She caught his gaze again, but this time Simon didn't look away. And nor did she.

At that instant everything faded, except for her and him. He could hear her soft voice echo through the air, as if she was singing to him. The butterflies in his stomach were about to erupt. Simon let the words flow through him, he closed his eyes but he could still feel her warm eyes on him. It was amazing.

But when Simon opened his eyes, the song was over and she no longer held his gaze. Maia was grumbling, but her arms were still laced around his back.

"God they really suck." Maia muttered, giving the girl daggers. "But thanks for the dance Simon. I'm going to go off and find Bat." Simon opened his mouth to reply but she was already lost in the crowd.

He sighed, feeling bad that he'd just ignored Maia like that and headed over to the table where his friends were seated.

Magnus Bane was grinning, and combined with his cat eyes he looked rather like a Cheshire cat. Next to him, also grinning was Robert Lightwood. Stood above Magnus was Alec whose icey blue-eyes looked nervous with a small tinge of excitement, Simon felt happy for him. He greeted them all and took a seat next to Magnus.

"Looks like Simon has a crush on Chelsea." A cool voice whispered in his ear, making him jump and almost take the table with him. He turned, it was Jace; and for the first time he'd seen him this evening without Clary at his side. "Did I make you jump? You seriously suck at being a vampire." Jace grinned like a hawk momets before it would sweep mice off the ground, a grin that if he'd been human would've scared him half to death.

Jace pulled the chair next to him out and pounced onto it.

"Who's Chelsea?" Simon asked, tracing his hand over the lines of the mark Clary had given him.

Somehow, Jace's grin spread further. "She's the girl your eyes seem to be practically glued to. Personally, I feel quite sorry for Maia dancing with you while you were practically drooling all over her shirt over Chelsea."

"I was not." Simon said in a small voice, but he knew it was true. "How do you even know her anyway?"

Jace's eyes flew to the stage where Oceans Awake were playing their final song of the evening. "She's Magnus's roommate, and –"He paused to put on a more girly tone, "-_bffz 4 lifez. _They're like an old married couple, knitting needles and all. Except, Chelsea doesn't knit, though unfortunately I can't say the same for Magnus."

"_Awesome_." Simon said, imitating a very high pitched girl's voice.

"Seriously, they're nearly done. Go talk to her." Jace said, getting up and pulling Simon with him.

Simon felt like he was going to throw up. "Not all of us have Jace confidence."

A false look of alarm passed of Jace's face. "What?" He paused and rubbed his temple. "Come on Simon, it's not as if she'll bite you or anything. Chelsea should be worried about getting bitten by _you_."

Simon merely rolled his eyes, he was used to all the vampire jokes now. "What would I say to her?"

"I don't know. Maybe hello?" They were weaving their way in and out of the dance floor, with every step getting closer to the stage, closer to her...

Oceans Awake had now finished their set and a warlock had taken over, black feathered wings sprouted out of his back and were beating together in time with the music; creating a rush of cool air over the crowd.

"She's over there, near the refreshment table. You see her?" Jace said, pointing out the direction of the refreshment table. Simon nodded slowly, his nerves were already getting the better of him and he wasn't even anywhere near her, yet alone talking to her. "Good. Now I'm going to go piss off Alec, wish me luck."

Simon silently waved him goodbye, as he watched Jace fade into the crowd. Now he was all alone, he felt even more ill at ease than he was with Jace. Sighing, he walked over to the refreshment table.

She was perched on a wall next to the table, picking at piece of chocolate cake with a fork. God, she looked beautiful.

The refreshment table was lined with platters of food and drinks of all shapes and colours; faeries drinks, raw meat and right at the very end, closest to her, blood. Upon seeing the blood his stomach let out a small growl, Simon almost jumped at the sound. He glanced over; she didn't appear to have noticed, thank god.

And then, there it was- the familiar prickling sensation that indicated that his fang teeth wanted to come out. But before he had time to control it, they were slicing into his bottom lip, brilliant.

"You know, it's ok." A voice said, Simon's head immediately snapped up. It was her, Chelsea, she had now put the chocolate cake on the wall beside her and was staring at Simon, her expression full of curiosity. He must have looked shocked, because she chuckled and said, "My friend, Jacob. He said the blood tasted disgusting and that it's at least a couple days old."

Simon eyed the blood in disgust. "Yeah, it is."

She jumped off the wall and took a step towards Simon, her expression unreadable. She titled her head, and shrugged, "I can tell you're hungry you know. You could drink from me if you want."

"EXCUSE ME?!"

Chelsea paused, giving Simon a crooked smile. "You're not hungry enough to kill me because if you were, you'd be sinking your fangs into me as we speak. Plus, you're the daylighter are you not? I've heard things about you, one being that you make a poor vampire, too kind they said." Her eyes seemed to be sparkling; Simon was too busy gaping to notice that they were identical copies of Jace's.

"I'd rather drink that" he gestured to the thin, dry blood on the table, "than human blood."

Her expression instantly lit up and she held out a hand vigorously. "So you are the Daylighter then." He nodded nervously. "Hi. I'm Chelsea."

"Simon." He muttered, still dazed from what had just happened he took her hand. All the nerves had faded. "You're very strange, you know."

"Of course I am." She almost snapped, "That's what makes me, well me."

Something clicked in Simon's mind. "Your friend Jacob, Raphael told me about him, he-"

With a force he didn't even know anyone was capable of Chelsea slapped him so hard, he struggled to regain balance.

"Hey! What was that for?!"

Chelsea narrowed her eyes at him. What had he done wrong?

"Don't you dare speak of things you do not know! You-" She reached to hit him again, but just before she could someone caught her wrist just in time.

"Forget it Chelsea, he didn't know." Said a pale blonde boy with an unnatural tone of calm. Jacob. He threw an apologetic smile Simon's way. "I'm sorry, but she just acts more sensitive to the subject than even me."

Chelsea struggled in Jacob's iron grip, but someone how able to not fail at glaring daggers Simon's way.

He chuckled. "You're being so immature, Chels." She grinned crookedly, but pouted after the smile escaped from her lips. "I'm sorry Daylighter, Raphael doesn't have a clue what he's talking about, you see what really happened was-"

"Jacob, you don't have to. Not if you don't want to." Chelsea's eyes were filled with a mix sorrow and concern; they didn't waver from Jacob's eyes.

"No. It's okay, I want to."

* * *

Jacob used to have a brother. His name was Will but everyone called him Ryan anyway because he had always seemed to prefer it. Ryan was the absolute opposite to how Jacob had been when he was his age, quiet, shy and in a way that was odd for children of his age, artistic. But Jacob loved him anyway.

Ryan was the perfect brother, even though he would occasionally borrow Jacob's stuff without asking and then break it. He would leave Jacob plates of cookies outside his room, or sometimes even pictures he had drawn himself and for a 10 year old they were pretty damn good. Jacob still kept one of the pictures Ryan had drawn him in his wallet. It was small – no bigger than a quarter of page dotted with drawings of him and Ryan layered over one another. Jacob instantly loved it, he could remember vividly the way his brother's face lit up after catching Jacob's stunned expression.

But, unfortunately he could remember that Saturday evening that took place a month after Ryan had given him that picture even more vividly.

It was exactly two weeks after he'd been Turned, he was 18 when him and another friend, Noah broke into Dumort as a joke. Though, he didn't find it funny at all when he awoke in the ground confused and, worst of all_ - thirsty. _They had told him that he had been _lucky_ that they'd decided to keep him. Noah hadn't been so _lucky_.

They told him that he'd have to leave home, forget his old life. That was how being Turned worked back then. However, like anyone would, he protested and like the stubborn person he was, protested until he got his way. They told him, being so young that it'd be hard for him to resist the scent of human blood and if he'd been starved enough – he'd lose all control. He didn't buy any of it.

Though he'd wished he had. He wished he had listened and not gone back to his old life at all.

He was Turned towards the end of October so with the decreasing amount of daylight, it hadn't been particularly challenging to keep his secret from his parents. But keeping it from his little brother had been a different story all together, from the moment he stepped in the room from that horrifying night Ryan had known something was different, that he had changed.

Originally it had hurt Jacob to have to keep his secret from Ryan, he'd always told Ryan everything, no-matter how inappropriate it was. And Ryan had always done the same. Ryan had always known that Jacob had been keeping a big secret from him and pestered him about it almost everyday about it, like a 10 year old kid would.

But one day Jacob grew tired of his pestering and just walked out. He didn't return home for a week.

He was tired and _thirsty_ when he returned home, he'd ran out of blood bottles a few days ago and was living on whatever blood he could find. The only reason he was even returning home was to grab the blood bottles and some money, he didn't need to be properly fed. Or so he had thought.

The wind was howling as he climbed through his window at 2:08 in the morning, he hadn't expected anyone to be in his room. But sure enough, there was Ryan curled up at the end of Jacob's bed, clutching a picture of them to his chest. Tears were streaming down his face.

His tears looked odd as Ryan's face lit up in a smile. Damn, Jacob had been caught.

Doing what any 10 year old kid would do, Ryan ran over towards Jacob as fast as his 10 year old legs could carry him. And like any clumsy 10 year old kid he tripped and cut himself. And like any 10 year old kid would do he ignored Jacob's screams of "NO!" And like any 10 year old kid he carried on running until he fell into his older brother's arms.

And like any thirsty, young vampire would do he drained the kid dry.


End file.
